


The Aftermath

by TheTurtleduckPond



Series: A Simple Song [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:21:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28208232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTurtleduckPond/pseuds/TheTurtleduckPond
Summary: The Gaang finds out about Zuko, Azula gets to cry, Mai and Ty Lee are released, and everyone attends a funeral.
Relationships: Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Sokka/Suki/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Suki/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: A Simple Song [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2066292
Comments: 13
Kudos: 138





	The Aftermath

Azula didn't bother to look at the other people who were suddenly storming into the courtyard. She just focused on placing the knife down on Zuko's chest as she swept his eyes shut and sat there cradling him. Without the incessant sound of his voice singing to her, she found that her thoughts were too loud.

 _'What happened? The Avatar is here, so father must have lost...'_ She didn't bother to look up, knowing her hair was shielding her from their eyes and covering Zuko as well.

"What's going on, Katara-" She heard a voice suddenly start speaking, then the steps stopped, "What's she doing to Zuko-?!"

"Sokka!" The waterbender yelped, moving and a shadow covered her, shrouding them in more darkness, "Wait, it's not what it looks like."

Her tone had gone soothing, trying to gain his attention and get him not to do... whatever it was he was planning on doing. Azula didn't bother trying to get up though, carefully pushing away a few stray locks of hair.

She didn't focus on the arguing voices, but she did catch a few things. 'What do you mean he jumped-' and 'please don't-' stuck out to her, but she didn't catch the rest of the conversation, too focused on what she was doing.

Soon though she heard the boy starting to get louder and then steps approaching. She glanced up, not moving her head and managing to peak through her hair as a girl helped him down to the ground.

She watched his hand lift and hesitate before he swept her hair aside and shifted to duck closer.

She almost ignored him completely and she considered for a second snapping at him. For touching her hair, for getting so close, for anything. Then she caught sight of his expression.

The Water Tribe boy's expression was twisted openly with grief as he looked down at Zuko. It was a raw sort of grief, that felt invasive to see no matter how much she herself was suffering.

The boy - Sokka, her mind supplied – reached forward and gently touched Zuko's cheek. The way he was watching him was more telling than anything that he hadn't said. Then there were the tears and she realized that she was the only thing hiding his grief from the world.

Azula staying still and letting her hair block their faces was the only thing letting them grieve in relative peace in the courtyard where others were already standing. It let him sit there and stare at Zuko like the world was ending. It was a sort of grief that spoke of having already lost someone close to him, which was probably worse.

She didn't know when she started crying herself, but she turned her focus back to Zuko and realized that her tears were falling on his face. She shifted, moving to wipe them away and keep his face as clear as she could. She couldn't even do anything other than try to keep his face clear of tears that weren't even his.

Azula didn't notice that she was forcing down sobs until she felt someone wiping the tears on her face. She hadn't seen who had pushed her hair back, but now the girl who'd helped Sokka sit down was sitting next to her and wiping the tears from her face.

She should smack her hand away, she should hiss and push and force them to leave her alone. To leave Zuko alone.

Instead, Azula found the sobs breaking free. She no longer focused on who was doing what, but rather the fact that there were people with her, sharing the same grief that she was.

She didn't care what she _should_ do anymore, she just wanted to know that feeling this way was okay.

\--------------------------------------

Azula sat in front of a mirror, already in her mourning clothes. Zuko's funeral was soon, but all she could do was stare at the mirror and her reflection. She didn't know what to do for a moment, floundering for what she should be doing now.

She should be putting her hair up, but she remembered what happened the last time she did and then she frowned at her hair again, at the ragged cut of her bangs. She reached up to tug at them, scowling at her reflection again. She wasn't going to the funeral looking like that much of a mess.

The door to the room opening had her whipping around, glaring and ready to snap when words failed her. Mai was standing there, eyes focused on her, Ty Lee's familiar form not too many paces behind. They were both in mourning clothes as well.

She had sent the word for their release and immediate return to the city, knowing that they had as much right as anyone to attend the funeral, but she hadn't expected them to come and see _her_ at all.

The sound of her door closing again brought her attention back to them, Ty Lee hesitating before she looked between the two girls who were staring each other down.

"Why are you here?" She wanted anger, she wanted anything but the hurt in her voice to be obvious.

"You're a mess," Mai's blunt response earned a soft chide from Ty Lee, but nothing more.

"What of it?" She countered, giving up for a moment, "I've got to finish getting ready, leave."

She turned back to the mirror again, picking up a ribbon and letting out a soft huff. She would have to deal with it.

One of Mai's familiar sighs hit her ears, but then she was taking the ribbon away. She narrowed her eyes, looking up and then she found that it was being passed off to Ty Lee.

The other moved behind her and she watched her brush get picked up, then the familiar pull of it through her hair. She scowled, looking up at Mai who pulled out one of her many knives, a small one.

She reached forward, taking her bangs and starting to cut them carefully. Clearly a decent amount of hair was being cut off, but she didn't move. She just scowled and waited until Mai's knife disappeared again and she felt Ty Lee move to put her hair back up into the traditional topknot and Mai took the makeup from her dressing table.

She didn't know why, but she sat peacefully as the other two girls finished for her. She glanced into the mirror when they were done, seeing that she looked more like herself than she'd felt since the two had turned on her.

She stood up, knowing that she looked pretty much like she always did and that it was thanks to the other two. She wouldn't say it though, she just ignored it and took a breathe that was knocked out of her just as quickly.

The touch was sudden and surprising. If someone was going to do this, she had expected Ty Lee. Instead, Mai was wrapping her in a hug and moments later Ty Lee's warmth was behind her as well.

"I know," It wasn't some big speech or heartfelt understanding.

It was just Mai, saying that she knew. Which was harder, she forced herself not to cry more, not wanting to have to fix her makeup right after it was done.

"We'll go with you," It was Ty Lee behind her, arms circled around her waist comfortingly.

When they pulled back they moved, one at each shoulder and she wondered if maybe she'd make it through the funeral with less pain than she was expecting. Or at least with the pain being shared.

\---------------------------------

Azula stood in place, stiff and staring at the pyre. She had kept things as traditional as she could, while also allowing those from different nations to keep their own customs. They weren't wearing Fire Nation garb for mourning, but it didn't feel any less for it.

She and her uncle were the closest to the pyre with a two exceptions. She'd placed Sokka near them as well, giving him a look that told him that she wasn't fooled. She had realized what their relationship was while they were sitting together on the ground with him.

When he'd gripped the hand of the girl that had been wiping her tears and gave a sort of complicated look at her she'd huffed and thrown her hands in the air for a moment. She'd put them both near the pyre though, in place that more than suggested what they were to her brother.

There had been a few people who'd tried to speak against their placement. She'd silenced it quickly. Mai and Ty Lee were near enough to deal with anyone who tried something.

The idea that Zuko had somehow managed to get both a boyfriend and a girlfriend while he had run off from the Fire Nation was strange. He had always been so awkward that she had expected him to have to marry whoever was arranged to him without any chance of finding someone for himself.

She took a breath as she looked at the flames again, grateful that she was crying anymore.

\---------------------------------

The coronation was boring, but the reaction to her calling off the war was at least funny. She wasn't doing it for the others though, she was doing it because that's what Zuko died trying to achieve.

So the least she could do is stop the war in its tracks for him.

She had one last thing to do though, searching out either Water Tribe blue or Earth Kingdom green. She figured they'd be together anyway, so finding them should be fairly simple.

When she found them she stopped, watching them turn their attention to her. She paused, the words strange to say now. After everything.

"Thank you."

Both of their expressions softened from wariness and confusion to understanding. Not forcing her to speak the words that she couldn't bring herself to say.

_'Thank you for being with him.' 'Thank you for giving him someone.' 'Thank you for trying.'_

She left without another word, not having anything else to say to them.

Azula hated red now, her robes darker than any other Fire Lord in history, but there were some colors she could stand still.

Blue and green were nice, but gold was probably her favorite.


End file.
